DirecTV Shareholders Approve AT&T Merger
this is beyond bad
Please don't tell me that just because at&t is a really big company that therefore every service they offer has a huge market share....because that's not even close to true....
U-Verse is barely even 'in the game' so to speak as far as TV service is concerned.
We are using both at&t smartphones and recently signed up for their digital life service. I have been completely satisfied with not only their service but their customer service.
Unfortunately in our area we only have access to Insight for cable and internet and both Satellite providers. We signed up for Directv and Insight for internet and were very happy. We were burned by TW time after time and when we thought that they were in our rear view mirror they went ahead and purchased Insight. Right off the bat the customer service went down hill and our rates went up with no improvement in speed. I know that people probably have had the same problems with every carrier out there because nobody is perfect but at&...
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The op wasn't saying that Uverse has a dominant presence in the market. But that if AT&T bought direct TV they would have a dominant presence, and that would eliminate competition in the market.
The Victor said:
ok but their tv service is decent at best, theres only certain places they can even offer it, and if they can better utilize directv why not, not all monopolies are bad
As long as I get the wheel barrow or top hat, I'm good!
That's a lie. All monopolies ARE bad. That's why they're supposed to be illegal in this country. Geesh.
Monopolies are Always bad... In all cases (unless you own the monopoly).
when theres a monopoly the government would step in and regulate prices that way its a fair price, and its really not even a monopoly because they dont control all of that service theres still competition
in most areas no it will not work, but there are services that need monopolies in order to keep prices low
So the fear is that with no competition the service provider could raise prices and let their service go to crap and you have to pay it because there's no other option right? Wrong, cancel your account and don't be their customer anymore. If they are over charging for crap service not only will they be motivated to fix their service and pricing by customers leaving in droves but it will in fact open up opportunities for a competitor to come into the ...
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Yes, they are,
>>what about when TV broadcasting was brand new and only one company offered it because they were first to market? Should we not let new companies with new services be created because there would be no competition?
No one said new industries were a problem. New industry is always good. But to allow one company to dominate that industry is bad. As long as other companies are free to start up and compete in that industry we can avoid that problem.
>>So the fear is that with no competition the service provider could raise prices and let their service go to crap and you have to pay it because there's no other option right?
That's not some unfounded irrational fea...
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This is exactly what I am trying to argue. That the problem isn't with the monopoly, it's with how difficult it is for a competitor to jump into the market. Instead of focusing energy on destroying monopolies we need to focus on making it easier for competitors to get in and the monopoly will destroy itself.
I just don't like this narrative that all companies are inherently evil and as soon as they have a chance to screw you over they all will. That's just not the case, the vast majority of business ...
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But it is. The idea of a monopoly is evil in and of itself. Even well meaning businesses will fall into the pit falls of a monopoly if they are allowed to have one.
>> it's with how difficult it is for a competitor to jump into the market.
Yes, because monopolies are inherently bad and they need competitors so that they are not monopolies.
>>Instead of focusing energy on destroying monopolies we need to focus on making it easier for competitors to get in and the monopoly will destroy itself.
That's a little backwards. Monopolies make it extremely difficult for new competitors to break into the market. Bust up the monopolies and the barriers ...
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Combined, U-Verse and Direct TV would still be smaller than Comcast and roughly about the same size as Time Warner Cable
We avoid monopolies by having choice, which creates competition. Sprint sucks? Try Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T or another regional carrier.
When it comes to TV, any given location in the country generally has one cable provider (i.e. Comcast) and one telecom (i.e. AT&T). Each have basically been allowed to be regional monopolies (although this has changed a bit with other companies now able to, for example, lease AT&T's lines and sell DSL service). DirecTV and Dish provide alternatives throughout the country, which keeps both the cable and telecom providers in check through competi...
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if they were buying dish it would be but theyre not, theyre merging with a partner
You do realize that a merger is the same thing as buying a company right?
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